Search This Blog

Thursday, June 22, 2017

June 22, 1918

Welcome
to another edition of the Throwback Thursday post. And this week's entry might seem a little
out of the way considering the range of other topics I could have chosen. Why I went with the selection I chose for
today is because of the story behind this event - as tragic as it may be.

We'll get to that in a moment, but for now, have a look at some of the other
things that happened on June 22 throughout history.

So,
given everything that happened on June 22, I think I had a lot of possible
topic choices to pick from. But when it
came to making my decision, I wanted to choose a topic that not a lot of people
knew about.

And
the date that this event happened was ninety-nine years ago today on June 22, 1918. And I warn you ahead of
time. This tale doesn't have a very
happy ending. Despite that, it is a
story that should be told, and I admit that I came up with the idea to choose
this topic based on a recent event.

By
now I am sure that you've heard that the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey
Circus has entertained its final audience.
The circus hosted its final performance in May 2017. I seem to recall that not long after its
final performance, a friend of mine posted a photo on their social media page
which depicted the remnants of the circus heading towards its final destination
by train. It certainly is a bittersweet
moment because I can remember being very entertained by the circus and liking
most of the acts performed there. I
wasn't too fond of the acts that featured animals, and truth be told, any of
the circuses that featured only human performers were ones I liked better. But still, it's sad to say farewell to an
institution that lasted nearly a hundred and fifty years.

At
least in that case, the circus performers put on their final show and
presumably went their separate ways.
Unfortunately back in 1918, a train loaded with circus performers didn't
end up with such a happy ending. In
fact, for some of the people aboard the train, it would be the last day that
they would ever be seen alive.

This is the story of the Hammond Circus Train Wreck - a train disaster that
killed at least eighty-six people and wounded over a hundred more.

At
the time of the accident, the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus was the second largest
circus operating within the United States (Ringling Bros. and Barnum &
Bailey was the largest), and in 1918, the circus was well on its way to having
another successful year. On June 22,
1918, the train was on its way to its next performance in the city of Hammond,
Indiana. A total of four hundred circus
performers were aboard the twenty-six car train, and it was expected that they
would arrive at their destination as scheduled.

Unfortunately, that train would not make it.

In the early morning hours of June 22, 1918 at around four in the morning, a second
train being driven by Alonzo Sargent was heading on the same track as the
circus train in the same direction by directly behind. And by all accounts, Sargent was in no
condition to be manning the controls.
It was reported that Sargent was extremely sleep deprived prior to
boarding the train, and had hardly gotten any rest in the twenty-four hours
prior. Combine the sleep deprivation
with the kidney pills that he was taking at the time, and you have a combination
for instant sleepiness. Sargent had
fallen asleep in front of the controls, and by the time he woke up and realized
what was happening, it was already too late to stop it.

It
is believed that when he woke up, he had already missed two automatic signals
and warnings posted by the brakeman of the circus train, and the circus train
had actually pulled to a stop to check a hot box on one of the flatcars. So when Sargent's train approached the
circus train, there was not nearly enough time for Sargent to release the brake
and Sargent's train plowed right into the back of the caboose and four wooden
sleeping cars that were right next to it at a speed of 35 miles per hour.

The
train impact was so severe that many of the eighty-six people that died aboard
the circus train died almost instantly - at least thirty seconds after the
crash. A fire erupted almost
immediately after the crash due to the oil lamps that were aboard the train
cars, and since many of the cars on the circus train were made of wood, the
fire spread very quickly. Many of the performers
that were stuck on the train were burned beyond recognition, and those that
survived suffered terrible injuries. It
is estimated that 127 people were injured in the crash as well.

Suffice
to say, the incident left a black mark on the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus, as they
mourned the loss of eighty-six of their own.
Five days after the crash, most of the people who died were buried in
Woodlawn Cemetery in a section set aside as "Showman's Rest". Because many of the victims were never
formally identified, graves marked "Unknown Male" and "Unknown
Female" had to be erected.
Surrounding the graves of the victims are statues of elephants in a
mourning position.

As
for the fate of Alonzo Sargent, he and his fireman, Gustave Klauss were facing
charges for the accident and the case was brought forth to trial - but the jury
of the trial was deadlocked, and the judge was forced to rule a mistrial. Since the prosecution decided not to re-try
the case, the charges were dismissed two years after the accident in June 1920.

Now,
you might think that this story has a sad ending...and well, it does. However, one thing that you might not know
was that the residents of Hammond, Illinois really stepped up to help the
survivors of the crash, providing them with meals, changes of clothing, and a
place to stay while they recuperated from their injuries.

And
in the circus world, the words "The Show Must Go On" are a standard -
and in the case of the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus, competing circuses in the area
(including Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey) lent the circus some
equipment that was lost in the crash so that they could go on and perform the
shows as scheduled. The only shows that
the circus tour missed were the ones in Hammond, and one in Monroe, Wisconsin.

And while some may have the opinion that it may
have been poor taste to continue with the circus so soon after a tragedy, I
would like to think that it was a form of healing for those left behind...and
for those who died, I think they would have wanted the show to go on.